


Cinderella Band-Aids

by damthosefandoms



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, That is all, They're just friends, and when he's not trying to kill his siblings, anyway i just wanted jason and steph to interact is that too much to ask, jason is a good big brother when he tries to be, seriously, so many death jokes, steph tries to run away and makes a friend, steph's dad is a bitch, they both grew up in the shitty parts of gotham with shitty parents, they should be friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-25 13:34:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18262349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damthosefandoms/pseuds/damthosefandoms
Summary: Seven-year-old Stephanie Brown decides enough is enough and runs away from home. She accidentally makes a friend, who has a lot in common with her… or I guess I should say will have.





	Cinderella Band-Aids

**Author's Note:**

> i literally did not mean to write this fic and then it happened and here i am and i really should've been writing my english essay instead. anyway here have fun i hope you nerds appreciate this <3

If Stephanie Brown were to describe herself in one phrase, it would be “stubborn as  _ hell _ .” She never knew when to give up. If she got an idea in her head, there was a good chance it was something that would no doubt blow up in her face both figuratively  _ and _ literally, but she would go through with it anyway, constant bad luck be damned. This had been proven, time and time again. She’d been this way her entire life. So, when Stephanie was seven years old and decided to run away from home, it was no surprise that it immediately backfired on her. 

Stephanie first got the idea after a particularly bad weekend at her dad’s apartment. She’d woken up in the middle of the night from a terrible dream and wandered into the kitchen to get a drink of water like her mommy would always get for her. However, it wasn’t until she got there that she realized she’d accidentally interrupted a conversation between her dad and some of his… friends. 

Her dad’s friends were scary. Stephanie was pretty sure she’d seen one of them on TV before—the one in the green and purple suit with the question marks on it. She couldn’t remember his name, but he was the one who usually hung around right before her dad would get sent back to jail.

He got sent to jail a lot. It never lasted long.

The other guys were just some of her dad’s friends; they hung around his apartment frequently and always smelled like smoke, and the bad stuff her dad warned her not to touch. Her dad smelled like that, too. The whole apartment did. 

Stephanie hated that smoky smell. It made her feel sick, but she put up with it because she didn’t have a choice. Her mommy said that Stephanie would have to stay with her dad on some weekends, ‘cause that was the Rule. Stephanie hated that rule. She would much rather stay at home with her mommy than go to her dad’s apartment and see his weird friends who said bad words and creeped her out.

That one night, though, she had gotten in so much trouble. When she stepped into the kitchen, hugging her teddy bear tight and trying her best to stay quiet, barely managing to make it to the kitchen without tripping in the dark, she froze when she heard the voices.

“–sure about this? What about the Bat–”   
“Rumor has it he’s out of town. Only good thing the League’s done is distract him.”  
“What about Robin?”  
“Then it’s about damn time that bird gets carved, anyway–”

Stephanie dropped her teddy bear. 

_ Dad’s gonna kill Robin? _

The voices stopped when the bear hit the floor. Stephanie winced; the bear had a rattle in it and had made a noise when it fell.

She heard the sound of chairs scratching against the tile floor. It was dark, but there was a dim light on in the kitchen and it allowed her to see a figure—her father—pick something up off the table, and quickly realized it was a gun.

An actual gun. 

_ Uh-oh. _

“Who’s there?” came her dad’s voice, and  _ wow,  _ was that voice scary. The only other time it’d come close to that was when he smacked her upside the head and locked her in her room without dinner after that time she swung a baseball bat in the house and broke the TV.

Slowly, Stephanie picked up her teddy bear and stepped into the kitchen. She kept her head down. Her father lowered the gun.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” 

Stephanie couldn’t look him in the eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, shrinking under her father’s glare. 

“Speak up. Look at the person you’re speaking to.”

“I-I just w-wanted water. Had a bad dream. Mommy always gets me water after.” She pulled the bear tight to her. Her dad glared at her.

“Go back to bed.” 

“I-I’m so sorry, Dad—”

“ _ Now, Stephanie.”  _

She gripped her bear and ran back to her bedroom, pulled the covers over her head, and cried. When Stephanie woke up the next morning, her door was locked. It wasn’t unlocked until her mom finally came to pick her up the following day. 

Over the next week at her mother’s house, Stephanie began thinking up a plan.

She refused to spend another night at her dad’s house.

This time, she would run away.

Not like her dad would care anyway.

Stephanie spent the next week looking up YouTube videos on how to pick a lock.

  
  


As usual, Stephanie’s plan blew up in her face immediately. She’d managed to sneak out her bedroom window after her dad had left for the night, but realized as she climbed down the fire escape that she had no idea how to get back to her mom’s house. 

But did she even want to? Going home now would end with her mom bringing her back to her dad, and then she would be right back in square one. Actually, she’d be even  _ farther _ back than square one, because her dad would be really,  _ really  _ angry, and being locked in her room might not be the worst thing Stephanie would experience if she went back.

Instead of walking towards the open street and trying to find her way home, Stephanie made her next bad decision and walked into Crime Alley.

 

Stephanie’s day just kept getting worse and worse. 

In the past hour in which she’d been on the run (well, it was more of a casual stroll through the worst part of Gotham), she had: skinned both her knees tripping over garbage, given half of one of her chocolate bars to a homeless guy, been offered drugs three times, and seen six people get mugged.

Gotham at its finest.

No one really bothered her, though she did get a lot of weird looks as she wandered down the streets.

Then, about an hour after she left home, she spotted one of her dad’s friends coming her way. Before she could think, the man grabbed her by the arm and said, “Woah, there!” He pulled her closer to him. Stephanie tried to struggle, but it didn’t help. 

His breath smelled like cigarettes. “What’s a little kid like you doing out here at night? Don’t you know it’s not safe to wander the streets alone? Why don’t you come home with me, and we’ll—” 

Stephanie bit down hard on his hand, and took off running when his grip loosened. The man chased after her. 

  
  


Stephanie was so focused on running that she didn’t even notice when an older kid stepped out into the alleyway. She crashed into him, and they both fell down. Her already-scratched up knees started to bleed more, and her hands had gotten banged up in the fall too. 

The other kid seemed fine but annoyed as he pushed Stephanie off of him. 

“Hey, thanks a lot. You ruined my dinner,” he muttered, leaning down to pick up the spilled bag of chips he’d been carrying. 

Stephanie didn’t have time to respond because the man was suddenly turning the corner, yelling for her to come with him. He hadn’t seen her yet. The boy next to her narrowed his eyes, grabbed her hand, and pulled her behind a dumpster. 

“Is that guy following you?” he asked in a whisper. 

Stephanie nodded frantically. 

“Stay here, but get ready to run.” The boy dropped the empty bag of chips and pulled out a knife. He walked out from behind the dumpster, slipping the knife into his sleeve. Stephanie peered around the corner of the dumpster, curious as to what the kid was thinking.   
“Hey, idiot!” the boy yelled. “This is _my_ alleyway. Get lost.”

The man turned, narrowing his eyes. “Where’d she go?”  
“Who? You’re the only other person here.” 

“The girl. I know she’s here.”  
“What girl? You mean that blonde kid?”

The boy walked slowly towards the man. Stephanie could see him twisting the knife around in his hand, behind his back.

“ _ Yes. _ Where is she?” The man glared at the boy. 

“Why do you care? She your kid?” The boy was glaring right back at him. 

“A friend’s. I’m taking her back to her father—”  
“Oh, really? Okay, then. She’s right behind that dumpster.” 

Stephanie’s breath stopped. 

_ What? I thought he was gonna help me! _

She stepped back as the man appeared in front of her. She felt her back hit the wall. There was nowhere to run. The man reached for her, and—

Suddenly the man was screaming and his hand was being skewered to the wall by a knife. Stephanie watched as the kid grabbed a brick and smashed it over the guy’s head, knocking him out with a single blow. 

“Come on! We need to get out of here before someone sees us!” The kid grabbed Stephanie’s hand, and he pulled her away. 

  
  


Stephanie sat on the steps of an abandoned apartment building. She winced as the boy pressed a band-aid onto her knee, covering up the cuts she had gotten from falling. She looked down at her knees.

“Is that… Cinderella?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah.” He closed the first aid kit.

“I stole it from the pharmacy down the street while they were getting robbed. I was trying to get the ninja turtles pack, but then the guy with the gun noticed me, so I grabbed what I could and ran.” He shrugged. “Don’t think he came after me, though. The cashier didn’t seem to mind. Guess he was a bit preoccupied. Oh, I’m Jason, by the way. I just realized I never told you my name.”  
“I’m Stephanie. You can call me Steph, though. My mommy calls me that sometimes and I like it better.” She pulled her knees up to her chest. “How old are you? I’m seven and three quarters years old. Did you run away from home too? Or do you live here? Or both, ‘cause this place is so creepy it looks like a haunted house.”   
Jason looked away. “Not...exactly. I’m eleven. And I’m more hiding out inside this place than anything. It’s like…my home base, kinda. You know—” he smiled “—you’re real short for someone who’s almost eight.”   
“I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW I’M 3’9 WHICH IS AVERAGE FOR MY AGE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SIR.” The two kids started laughing.

After a minute, Jason spoke up. “For real, though, Steph, you shouldn’t have run away. You can see how dangerous it is out here, now, right? And you’re just a little kid. You’re gonna get hurt. You should go home.” Jason shoved the first aid kit into his backpack. “Come on, I’ll walk you back if you want, but you gotta tell me where—”

“NO!” Stephanie cried, grabbing Jason’s hand. “I don’t wanna go home! Dad’s gonna get m-mad, a-a-nd, and Mommy’s still gonna make me stay with him ‘cause that’s what they decided when Dad left and Dad’s really,  _ really  _ scary when he’s mad and he had a gun last w-w-week and I-I, I do-don’t— I DON’T WANNA GO HOME! Please don’t make me, p-please! Please!” 

Stephanie threw her arms around him in a hug. Jason didn’t know what to do. He awkwardly hugged her back.   
“Hey, Steph, come on, it’s–it’s okay. You can stay with me. We’ll figure it out, okay?” 

She pulled back and nodded. “You gotta promise, though. Pinky promise. Wait, no, you gotta pinky  _ swear _ that you mean it.” 

She raised her hand, holding up her pinky finger. “You know how to pinky swear?” 

Jason nodded. They linked their fingers, and promised to stick together.

  
  


It was a week after Stephanie ran away, and she was having the time of her life. Jason, whom she’d declared to be not only her best friend, but also her honorary big brother  _ and _ her personal bodyguard, turned out to be awesome at the living-on-the-streets thing; he knew every hidden corner, every place to hide from the cops—he even taught her how to hit someone with a brick in just the right spot so that it wouldn’t hurt them too badly but would knock them out on the spot. He even approved of her ability to pick locks, but said her technique could use a little work. 

One day while waiting for Jason to get back with some food, Stephanie found something interesting on the street. 

“I’m sorry, you did _what_?”  
“I _told_ you! Some dummy threw away perfectly good colorful string! And I saw it and so I sneezed the opportunity—” 

“I think you mean  _ seized.”  _

“Shut up, that’s what I said! I seized the opportunity and,” she took her hands out from behind her back, “I made us friendship bracelets! There’s green for you, eggplant purple for me—” 

“That’s very specific.” Stephanie stuck out her tongue at him.

“Shut up. And also, there was red and yellow so I used some of that too. I know the colors look weird together but I like them!” She held out one of the bracelets. Jason sighed, lifted his arm, and rolled his sleeve up so she could tie it around his wrist. 

“This one’s for you. Now listen, it’s like our pinky swear, okay? You can’t take it off, ever, or else that means you’re not my best friend anymore, but since we’re gonna be best friends forever even after we die—” 

“Again, you’re being oddly specific there, Steph.”  
“Shut _up_! I’m never taking mine off either. Help me tie it, please?”

“Yeah, yeah.” 

  
  


One week and two days after Stephanie ran away from home, she and Jason saw Robin swing past their apartment building. 

“You know, you kinda remind me of Robin.” Stephanie said to Jason, who sat on the steps beside her. 

“How? Because my hair is black? You know I dyed it, right?”  
“Wha—no, but we’re gonna talk about that later. No, I mean ‘cause Robin’s a hero, and you’re _my_ hero.”  
“Steph, I’m not—” 

“You saved me from my dad’s mean friend. And you’re a good fighter. I heard you’re the best fighter of all the kids around here. Even most of the adults. And like, I bet you Robin never thought of smashing a brick on a guy’s head before.” She yawned, leaning on Jason’s shoulder.  
“I guarantee you he has. You tired?”   
“No—” Another yawn. “Not at all. I bet you’d be a good Robin if you ever got the chance. But not Batman. Don’t be Batman. He’s lame.”

“What makes you say that? Not that I disagree.”  
“He puts Dad’s friends in jail all the time. Dad too, but they all always get out. If Batman was so great, why do I still have to live with my dad sometimes?”  
Jason sighed, and put an arm around his honorary little sister. “You don’t have to, not anymore. Hey, here’s an idea: If Batman ever shows up here, I bet you all my Hershey bars I have stashed away that I could steal the tires off the Batmobile.”  
Stephanie yawned, then laughed. “No way. You’d get caught. He might be lame, but he _is_ Batman.” 

“Yeah, okay. Oh, and you know what? Just for the record, I think you would make a great Robin too.”  
“You think?”  
“Definitely. Though I’m sure you’d drive Batman crazy.”  
They both laughed that time. Stephanie yawned again. Jason rolled his eyes. “I think you’re tired. Come on, it’s late. You should go to bed.”  
“No! Not yet, Jay, you still gotta tell me why you dyed your hair black! What color was it before? Come on, tell me!”  
Jason rolled his eyes. Steph really had him wrapped around her finger. “Fine. So it all started a few years ago, when I spilled black paint all over myself, and when I looked in the mirror I realized my hair was all black and it looked really good…”

 

Exactly one month after Stephanie ran away from home, she started to miss her mom.   
Not to mention her toys, her stuffed animals, her bed… 

Life with Jason was great, but honestly? Stephanie wanted to go home. 

They’d been hanging out eating day-old bagels they’d managed to get for a cheap price at the diner down the street when Stephanie looked over at the newspaper stand across from them. That day’s paper was displayed, and on it was written the headline,  _ Riddler, Cluemaster Caught by the Batman! _

Stephanie nearly choked on her bagel.  
_Dad’s… locked up again. Batman caught him. Really, actually caught him. It’s safe to go home._

“Steph! Hey, did you forget to… chew… again…” He followed her gaze to the newspaper stand.

“Holy shit.” He looked at her. “Steph, you…”

“I can go home.” She looked up at her best friend. “Jay, I can go home. I can go see my mom, I can watch tv again, I can go back to school and play with my toys and— Jason? You okay?”

He didn’t answer. He shoved his hands in his pockets, and started to walk away. Stephanie followed, and neither said a word until they got back to their home base.  
“Jay, what’s wrong?” Stephanie reached out for him. “Come on, Jason, just tell me—”  
“Nothing’s wrong. Look,” Jason reached into his pocket, pulling out some cash. “You know your mom’s address, right? Here.” 

He handed the money to her. “Use this to call a cab. I’m sure your mom would appreciate it if she didn’t have to pay the driver when you get home.”  
“Jason, what? No, I’m not gonna leave you. You can come with me! My mommy’s so nice, and she’s not always really paying attention ‘cause her special medicine makes her busy a lot but like I’m sure she’d love you, you can—”   
“ _NO, STEPHANIE!_ ”

Stephanie flinched. Jason _never_ called her by her full name. He’d also never yelled at her before. Clearly, he’d had the same thought, because when he saw her flinch he lowered his voice.  
“Steph, I’m sorry, it’s just…” He waved his hands, as if that explained everything. “You just gotta do this, okay? You gotta go home. Without me.”  
“Jay, I don’t wanna go without you.” Tears fell from Stephanie’s eyes. Jason had his hood up, so she couldn’t see his face, but Stephanie knew she wasn’t the only one crying.  
“You’re my brother now, Jason, please.”

“I can’t, Steph. But you need to go.”

“ _ Why? _ Jay, why do  _ I _ need to go? What about you? You deserve to be happy and—” She stopped. “What?”

Jason pulled his hood lower over his eyes. “That’s just it, Steph. You deserve to be happy, too. With your mom. I don’t have that chance anymore. That’s why you need to take it. Without me. Please.”  
Stephanie sniffed. She leaned forward and hugged Jason. 

When they pulled away, Stephanie looked him in the eyes. “Fine. But if my dad gets out of jail and I have to go there again, I’m running away right back to you. Deal?” 

Jason smiled. “Deal. And hey, if you ever need anything, you know where to find me.”  
Stephanie nodded. “Hey, that bet we made? About stealing the Batmobile tires? You should do it.”  
“Noted.” 

Stephanie held up her wrist with her friendship bracelet. “Bye, Jason. Don’t die without me.” 

Jason held up his. “Bye, Stephanie. Same to you.”

  
  


**Years later…**

 

Stephanie shoved Jason onto the couch. They had each been out on patrol, separately, and happened to run into each other while chasing down some idiots who had tried to rob a bank. It shouldn’t have been difficult to take them down, but the pair been disoriented after both running at a criminal who jumped out of the way right at the last minute. 

They never had been very good at working together. 

But in the end it didn’t matter. Spoiler and Red Hood had managed to take out the thieves with almost no problem; except that Jason had been shot in the arm after slamming into Stephanie and not seeing it coming.

Now they were at one of Jason’s safehouses: a weirdly familiar abandoned apartment building deep in Crime Alley. Stephanie told Jason to sit still, and went to look for some sort of medical supplies.

She dug through a cabinet in the bathroom, finding a dusty box of Disney princess band-aids.

She pushed them aside and grabbed everything she'd need to fix him up.

Stephanie returned and sat down on the couch next to Jason. She ignored his complaints about his poor, bleeding arm.

“Just roll your sleeve up. Don’t make me do it for you. I  _ will _ hurt it by accident if I try,” she said.

“Whatever.” Jason pulled his sleeve up, and Stephanie froze, eyes locked on the bracelet on his wrist.

“Hello? Earth to Stephanie? My arm’s bleeding out—” Jason was cut off when Stephanie pulled her glove off and rolled her own sleeve up.

“Holy  _ fuck. _ ”

It was quiet for a second. 

“I can’t believe you _actually_ stole the Batmobile tires. Wait, no, you didn’t pull it off—you owe me Hershey bars.”  
“Of all the things you could’ve said, _that’s_ what you’re going with?”

“Yeah. I missed you, you know.”  
“I missed you too. Can you fix my arm now?”

“I’ll put a Cinderella band-aid on it.”


End file.
